Starfleet Uniforms

Starfleet Uniforms

Starfleet Uniforms

The uniforms of starfleet crew personnel are in a number of different colors. These colors display rank and crew position of the crew member. In the first 1960s Star Trek series the colors of the uniforms are red, gold, and blue, each color representing a different crew division on any starship. Red uniforms are those worn by command personnel and navigation division, gold uniforms are those of engineering, security, and operations, and the blue uniforms are for the sciencific personnel, which includes medicine.

Data who was at the time Second Officer in the starship had a gold color uniform which marks his primary crew position which was Chief of Operations. The changes in uniform colors which occur from one series to another can be a little confusing. What does always remain constant through all the different series is the stitched emblem on the chest of the uniform which denotes the rank of the wearer.

Starfleet uniform colors also correspond with the department the crew member belongs to. In the earliest episodes, command personnel wear green shirts, science and medical crew have the blue color, and operations crew are wearing beige shirts.

In an early episode named "The Cage" Spock's Starfleet uniform has a blue shirt and Captain Kirk wears a green uniform. Some time later in the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" Spock dresses in beige and Captain Kirk also wears a beige uniform. These numerous changes in uniform colors can be confusing issue for some viewers however the chest insignia remains constant and is a definite indicator of rank of the wearer. This insignia has in fact remained constant in various different episodes of Star Trek and is an indicator of rank which is better than the ever changing uniform color.

Dr McCoy has the science insignia on his uniform since only non commissioned officers can wear the medical insignia, and he is of course a commissioned officer. In the regular production of the Star Trek series, command personnel have gold shirts, engineering and security personnel wear red shirts, while science and medical personnel have blue shirts. Security officers wore red and unfortunately often met a violent end which resulted in them being known as redshirts. The command personnels uniforms although really green in color look gold yellow when viewed on screen.

Star Fleet uniforms show considerable variations from one series to others. Colors for some well known characters including Captain Kirk and Spock have changed a number of times from one series to another. These frequent changes are quite confusing to viewers who have become accustomed to seeing Spock wearing one color only to see him subsequently in another different color in some other series. One thing which has never been changed is the rank emblem on the chest. This emblem always clearly shows the rank of the crew membe wearing it.